Well theres someone who agrees with me. I know if I had a child who was born with a horrible affliction and who could never make a life for themselves and be happy, I'd rather it not have to suffer at all.

I just don't get why this reasoning is not looked upon as favorable.

It's cruel. The child should decide for himself. Life is a precious thing.

"The Vatican considers pre-implantation diagnosis of embryos to avoid genetic defects or select for qualities like gender morally unacceptable."

MORALLY unacceptable. Right. You selfish twats. What if a baby is born with a part of their skull missing, exposing their brain? What about all of those babies in Russia born with such horrific deformities as their brains developing outside their head, having no limbs, or having backwards appendages as a result of radiation? Wouldn't you want to end the child's suffering, as going through life would most likely be a trying and insufferable ordeal for them?

"Philosophy" is personal - i.e. one's own - understanding, defined and labeled for easier classification by oneself (and others, should you choose to discuss). Essentially, it is a "note form" version of what one believes to be true and real. One can never understand the thought process simply by reading the notes, for the notes are devices of memory, and, if the memory is not present, the notes have no meaning.

A small number of you may remember, for some reason, that I was part of a band named Winter Moon around the turn of the year - in fact, one of my first posts, if not my first post, had the shoving of our music down your respective ears as its sole purpose. Winter Moon has, since, effectively, dissolved - there is little to no collaboration between myself and the former bassist and drummer of Winter Moon, thus I have decided to redefine my music under the new name "Moldern".

The criticisms made about Winter Moon (aside from the name) were that there were "too many different styles", "the intro [was] pointless", and "[good ideas were] not developed enough and they [were] a little too far apart". As a result of these criticisms, I have endeavored, to the best of my ability, to create less simplistic and more complex music, though the process of writing/recording is still the same - I create a drum pattern, come up with a good riff, and see if a good song comes out of it.

Furthermore, the overall sound has been worked on, so as to bring it closer to what I envisioned, at the beginning.

0:00 - 0:27 In the Realms of Timeless Death - Odes to the Dead0:28 - 0:55 Desecrate - Odes to the Dead

Winter Moon/Moldern:

0:56 - 1:22 Dreams of a Vagrant - Untitled (Frost Metal)

1:23 - 1:46 In Front of the Tomb - A Castle...1:47 - 2:19 Observing the Night (bridge) - A Castle...2:19 - 3:28 Observing the Night (duet) - A Castle... (I would just like to say: this was entirely improvised, excepting the ending. Both guitar parts were played on the spot, one after the other. These were the only takes I did.)

The last song is the first of the release I am currently working on. I've resolved the "white noise" issues which were present throughout the "transition era" (i.e. post "Odes...")

I have tried very hard to make every instrument interesting, although I find the drums somewhat difficult, thus for the most part I use standard Black Metal drumming (the greatest display of drumming is on "Observing the Night")

They are playing too much with different styles, in my opinion. It's Black Metal - no, it's Power Metal with symphonic overtones - Black Metal again - NO, now it's post-hardcore Darkthrone-wannabe Blackened Death Thrash.

BLEEDING CHRIST, IT'S IN 5/4! "PROG"!

That came to absolutely nothing, and now it's slightly "Old School", in my opinion. Not too bad at the

Shit, it just cut out to replace some alright Black Metal with some palm muting and Classical music.

That, too, came to nothing. There was absolutely no point for that short-lived meander through bollocks. Back to the "Old School" style.

And, after a short Beherit-style flangéd cybervoice bridge, they're back to the beginning, which, coincidentally, happens to be the end.

Certainly not a wasted four minutes and eight seconds, but if you're going to try out different styles, do it on an EP, not a full album. Too much going on with too few logical links between the different ideas.

Correct me if i'm wrong but it never really seemed to pick up in Germany. Sure there was the odd good band like Absurd or Moonblood? but there is little common ground between these bands and the establishment of a unique German style. of course there has been some great works come out of Norway and later Poland, France, Greece.. there are even a lot of interesting American bands. surely this must be a part of the German psyche too, unless some other reason?

What about Nargaroth? That was the whole basis of the German scene, back in the early '90s.

Drawing Down the Moon is fundamentally different to contemporary Black Metal in many respects, most notably in the overall sound of it. It is a fuller, thicker sounding album, an effect probably enhanced by the throw-back vocal style implemented - omitting reference to the computer altered vocals, which were substantially odd, especially for a genre which so despised the absolutely modern - and the lower, sluggier guitars. If ever there existed a Black Metal release which pushed the boundaries of a genre still defining itself (or redefining, depending on one's particular interpretation), Drawing Down the Moon is that release.

You are absolutely right. Even though Im new to this forum, I see you (Death metal Black metal) are quite headstrong in your views on the diminishing status of the extreme metal scene, and I commend you for it. It really is a bad time for this genre of music. Although I was not present at the start of the scene in the early 90's, I joined as soon as I was able, and even on my later "exposure" to the scene I have noticed how the scene has slowly grown and diluted. I have spent a considerable amount of time in my schooling career researching and writing about the scene through a sociological viewpoint and it is quite apparent that the scene is being completely taken over by "repeat" "carbon copies" of original bands. The forefathers of the scene, on the other hand, are resorting to more and more experimental avenues in order to keep some form of transgression continuing. The scene itself was found on ideas of rebellion to the norms and paradigms of society and the best way to rebel against these set ideas is through transgressive practices which challenge the structure these ideas are set upon. Now, the concept of transgression has become to turn to experimental, to change it up, add new elements in order to put out something different. This of course, leads the spearheaders of the scene to change the sounds of the scene, and leave the original sounds to be diluted by bands who are all "attempt" carbon copies of the originators. This of course leads to a completely diluted scene, lacking in power, ideologies, and purity, which in turn leads to faulty structures and an eventual collapse (lets hope not). I have no suggestions as to where the scene is heading or how to prevent it, Im simply stating what I notice is going on. As the scene grows, it actually nears its end (quite ironic). What you think?

Me think you make good point, personally, but you use the word "scene" too much. Are you insinuating something...?